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Christmas family movie nights are one of our family traditions. Along with drives to look at holiday lights, cookie baking, and attending worship, the holidays wouldn’t be the same without time gathered together enjoying the classics as well as new favorites. Use this movie review and recipe, Muppet Christmas Carol and White Chocolate Candy Cane Oreo Pops Recipe, as the perfect duo for your next family holiday gathering.

Hint: Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the post where we are hosting a GIVE-AWAY!

THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL (1992)

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie and company joining forces with Oscar winner Michael Caine to stage their own version of Charles Dickens’ immortal classic A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Without doing specific research, I’m rather comfortable in saying A CHRISTMAS CAROL is probably the most filmed Christmas story of all time, and countless television shows have at least used the general backbone of Dickens’ novel for their holiday-themed episodes.

Let me say upfront that I love the Muppets. I mean – I LOVE the Muppets. I believed for decades that they truly exist and that they live and breathe like the rest of us. And no one has been able to convince me otherwise. Perhaps that is why my disappointment was so great!

That’s not to say that THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL is terrible. It’s certainly watchable with a couple catchy tunes and the inevitable good will of Dickens’ source material. But “watchable” is the last adjective I want to use in describing a movie featuring my Jim Henson friends. Younger kids less familiar with Scrooge and company may find a bit more originality in this film.

I suppose what bothered me the most is the missed opportunity – this could have been a Christmas classic. This is a Muppet movie, so why make a human the lead character? Michael Caine is a wonderful actor (having two Oscars to prove it), but this is a role he could do in his sleep.

I totally would have made one of the Muppets the lead Scrooge character and had a ball coming up with some inventive choices of human actors for the three ghosts that visit Ebeneezer on Christmas Eve. Why not throw caution to the wind and let Miss Piggy play a female Scrooge? Her classic temper and sarcasm would have been ideal, especially for the first third of the movie.

And why not make it a comedy? There are a couple very small moments of levity, but the filmmakers have basically taken the exact same story that has been filmed a jillion times and replaced it with Muppets. Put humans back in, and there would be absolutely nothing special or memorable about the film.

Perhaps the filmmakers wanted to introduce the Dickens story to a new generation. Perhaps they felt it unthinkable to tweek too much of an undisputed classic. The Bill Murray film SCROOGED, which came out four years earlier, while not a great film, took pains to modernize and try breathing new life into the story.

It should be noted that Jim Henson, the original creative genius behind the Muppets, passed away two years before the film’s release, so I imagine this was probably the first Muppet film without Henson at the fore. It was probably a difficult endeavor in that regard for all involved, and I wish the result would have been more worthy of previous Muppet successes.

All this being said, if you have kids who have shown interest in the Muppets, it’s probably still a worthwhile film for them or for a family movie night. Let’s face it, mediocre Muppets is certainly better than no Muppets at all.

But, oh, what could have been…

So, I’m going to let Sara take over now as she shares a recipe that sounds delicious for this time of year, and I CAN’T WAIT to give it a try. Enjoy!

White Chocolate Candy Cane Oreo Pops

Make these white chocolate candy cane Oreo pops as a fun family activity (and treat for the Muppets movie family night!), or bring them to your next holiday party.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year – time for the annual 25 Days Of Christmas Movies Blog Hop! #ChristmasMoviesHop

We have 25 talented bloggers gathered together to share with you all the wonderful crafts and recipes you can make this Christmas season, based off of some of the most beloved holiday classic films. There are 25 films to be inspired by for your holiday season, and 25 talented bloggers to aid your inspiration. If you love Christmas movies, you have come to the right place!

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